BANKING ANALYTICS

Ranking of the Azerbaijani banking sector (ranking includes the information component of the banking sector, the main events of the world economy, the analytical review of the main indices of the banks which are being ranked)

US official: Same person behind Yemen bombs

The same person is likely behind several explosive devices that have originated in Yemen, the White House's top counterterrorism official said Sunday, dpa reported.

"I think the indications are right now based on the forensics analysis that it's an individual who has been responsible for putting these devices together, the same (person)," John Brennan told the US television channel ABC.

He was referring to the latest packages as well as a bomb which was used in an assassination attempt on Saudi Arabia's top counterterrorism official and the Christmas Day attempt last year to blow up an airliner over Detroit.

He said on various US television programmes that authorities were still searching for other packages that might contain explosives, saying that in his mind the "sophistication" of the two intercepted packages so far indicate that "it was an al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula effort."

US officials have Saudi-born bomb-maker, Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, is linked to the case, though they say other people are also involved.